Senegal People - 2023
SOURCE: 2023 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK
Population
18,384,660 (2023 est.)
Nationality
noun: Senegalese (singular and plural)
adjective: Senegalese
Ethnic groups
Wolof 39.7%, Pular 27.5%, Serer 16%, Mandinka 4.9%, Jola 4.2%, Soninke 2.4%, other 5.4% (includes Europeans and persons of Lebanese descent) (2019 est.)
Languages
French (official), Wolof, Pular, Jola, Mandinka, Serer, Soninke
Religions
Muslim 97.2% (most adhere to one of the four main Sufi brotherhoods), Christian 2.7% (mostly Roman Catholic) (2019 est.)
Demographic profile
Senegal has a large and growing youth population but has not been successful in developing its potential human capital. Senegal’s high total fertility rate of almost 4.5 children per woman continues to bolster the country’s large youth cohort – more than 60% of the population is under the age of 25. Fertility remains high because of the continued desire for large families, the low use of family planning, and early childbearing. Because of the country’s high illiteracy rate (more than 40%), high unemployment (even among university graduates), and widespread poverty, Senegalese youths face dim prospects; women are especially disadvantaged.
Senegal historically was a destination country for economic migrants, but in recent years West African migrants more often use Senegal as a transit point to North Africa – and sometimes illegally onward to Europe. The country also has been host to several thousand black Mauritanian refugees since they were expelled from their homeland during its 1989 border conflict with Senegal. The country’s economic crisis in the 1970s stimulated emigration; departures accelerated in the 1990s. Destinations shifted from neighboring countries, which were experiencing economic decline, civil wars, and increasing xenophobia, to Libya and Mauritania because of their booming oil industries and to developed countries (most notably former colonial ruler France, as well as Italy and Spain). The latter became attractive in the 1990s because of job opportunities and their periodic regularization programs (legalizing the status of illegal migrants).
Age structure
0-14 years: 41.19% (male 3,858,937/female 3,714,062)
15-64 years: 55.46% (male 4,925,324/female 5,271,627)
65 years and over: 3.34% (2023 est.) (male 266,485/female 348,225)
Dependency ratios
total dependency ratio: 81.5
youth dependency ratio: 75.8
elderly dependency ratio: 5.7
potential support ratio: 17.4 (2021 est.)
Median age
total: 19.4 years
male: 18.5 years
female: 20.3 years (2020 est.)
Population growth rate
2.52% (2023 est.)
Birth rate
30.84 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Death rate
5 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Net migration rate
-0.69 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
Population distribution
the population is concentrated in the west, with Dakar anchoring a well-defined core area; approximately 70% of the population is rural as shown in this population distribution map
Urbanization
urban population: 49.6% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 3.59% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Major urban areas - population
3.340 million DAKAR (capital) (2023)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
Mother's mean age at first birth
21.9 years (2019 est.)
note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49
Maternal mortality ratio
261 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)
Infant mortality rate
total: 31.75 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 35.05 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 28.28 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 70.25 years
male: 68.52 years
female: 72.08 years (2023 est.)
Total fertility rate
4.17 children born/woman (2023 est.)
Gross reproduction rate
2.03 (2023 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rate
26.9% (2019)
Drinking water source
improved: urban: 95.9% of population
rural: 79.3% of population
total: 87.3% of population
unimproved: urban: 4.1% of population
rural: 20.7% of population
total: 12.7% of population (2020 est.)
Current health expenditure
5.2% of GDP (2020)
Physicians density
0.09 physicians/1,000 population (2019)
Sanitation facility access
improved: urban: 94.1% of population
rural: 55.5% of population
total: 74.1% of population
unimproved: urban: 5.9% of population
rural: 44.5% of population
total: 25.9% of population (2020 est.)
Major infectious diseases
degree of risk: very high (2023)
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria and dengue fever
water contact diseases: schistosomiasis
animal contact diseases: rabies
respiratory diseases: meningococcal meningitis
note: on 22 March 2023, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Travel Alert for polio in Africa; Senegal is currently considered a high risk to travelers for circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV); vaccine-derived poliovirus (VDPV) is a strain of the weakened poliovirus that was initially included in oral polio vaccine (OPV) and that has changed over time and behaves more like the wild or naturally occurring virus; this means it can be spread more easily to people who are unvaccinated against polio and who come in contact with the stool or respiratory secretions, such as from a sneeze, of an “infected” person who received oral polio vaccine; the CDC recommends that before any international travel, anyone unvaccinated, incompletely vaccinated, or with an unknown polio vaccination status should complete the routine polio vaccine series; before travel to any high-risk destination, the CDC recommends that adults who previously completed the full, routine polio vaccine series receive a single, lifetime booster dose of polio vaccine
Obesity - adult prevalence rate
8.8% (2016)
Alcohol consumption per capita
total: 0.25 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
beer: 0.21 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
wine: 0.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
spirits: 0.02 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Tobacco use
total: 6.9% (2020 est.)
male: 13.1% (2020 est.)
female: 0.7% (2020 est.)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight
14.4% (2019)
Currently married women (ages 15-49)
65.3% (2023 est.)
Child marriage
women married by age 15: 8.8%
women married by age 18: 30.5%
men married by age 18: 0.7% (2019 est.)
Education expenditures
5.5% of GDP (2020 est.)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 56.3%
male: 68.4%
female: 45.4% (2021)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)
total: 9 years
male: 8 years
female: 10 years (2021)
Youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24)
total: 5%
male: 3.5%
female: 7.5% (2021 est.)
NOTE: The information regarding Senegal on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Senegal 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Senegal 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 06 Dec 23, Copyright © 2023 ITA all rights reserved.